Method of winding material



Mch 27, 1945. c; 0. SMITH 2372,40

METHOD OF WINDING MATERIAL Filed June 25, 1945 "5? lNVE/V 7'09 i 7 M2? 6.6. 5M! TH A TTOP/VE Patented Mar. 27, 1945 METHOD OF WINDING MATERIAL Charles 0. Smith, Cranford, N. J., assignor to Western Electric Company, Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application June 23, 1943, Serial No. 491,967

6 Claims. (Cl. 242-26) This invention relates to method of winding materials, particularly cellulose acetate rayon.

In the communication arts cellulose acetate rayon is sometimes used in forming insulating coverings on electrical conductors. Such material is first wound into packages and from the packages the material is served to the electrical conductors. There exists, however, certain disturbing factors in the use of the rayon due to its smooth and fiberless nature. With strands or yarns formed of fibers of silk, cotton or the like, the loose ends of the fibers intermingle in the packages formed thereof and the convolutions of the package will readily slough off. With the absence of fibers in the rayon yam the outer convolutions of the package will tend to slough off if wound in the conventional manners and the size of the packages will be limited. It has been found possible, however, to greatly increase the size of the packages and overcome this dimculty by overlapping the ends of the rayon yarn and interlocking the filaments thereof to eliminate sloughing off of any portion of the package.

An object of the invention is to provide a method of winding material, particularly cellulose acetate rayon, into packages.

With this and other objects in view, the invention comprises a method of winding continuous filament material, including a plurality of ends each formed of a plurality of filaments, upon a support, so that the ends of the successive convolutions will overlap to interlock all portions of the material in the package.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, wherein Fig. l is a fragmentary detail view illustrating the winding of the material into a package;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary detail view illustrating the overlapping formation of the convolutions oi the thread;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail sectional view further illustrating the overlapping nature of the convolutions of the material;

Fig. 4 is a schematic illustration of the distributor illustrating the ironing-in of the convolutions of the material, and

Figs. 5 and 6 are schematic illustrations of different types of material structures.

Referring now to the drawing by the aid of which the method may be clearly understood, Fig. 1 illustrates a rotatable arbor or shaft 10 upon which a support, in the form of a tube II, is removably disposed upon the arbor to receive .the windings of the material in the forming of a package l2. The material in the present instance is cellulose acetate rayon formed of microyarns resulting from continuous extrusion of the cellulose acetate. The material may be termed a strand and in the drawing is identified by reference numeral l4. Each strand is composed of a desired number of ends. For example, the strand illustrated in Fig. 5 is composed of two ends 15 and "5. Each end is composed of one hundred and twenty filaments, together forming a complete strand of two hundred and forty filaments. In the examples shown in Fig. 6, a strand of the same size may be formed of six ends l8 to 23 inclusive, each end in this instance to be composed of forty filaments, completing a strand with the total number of filaments the same as that illustrated in Fig. 5, that is, two hundred and forty.

During the forming of the ends by the extrusion of the filaments the group of filaments is given a low twist of approximately one-half twist per inch.

While winding the material or strand, in forming the package l2, the material passes through a groove 25 in a distributor element 26, the latter being movably mounted in a support 21 to distribute the material, first, upon the support II, and continue the distribution of the material to build up the package l2. The support 21 may be pivotally supported at 28 and forced counterclockwise (Fig. 4) by suitable means, such as a spring 29, to apply a given pressure through the element 26 on the material being served.

The speed of movement of the element 26 and the shaft or arbor I0 is such that each convolution of the material will overlap its adjacent previous convolution approximately half the width of the strand, as illustrated in Figs. 2, 3, 5 and 6. With the strand of the two ends l5 and 16 (Fig 5), this overlapping is shown generally in Figs. 2 and 3 as complete structures overlapping and interlocking each other, but the exact interlocking arrangement of the filaments cannot be completely shown in the drawing. During the serving of the material or strand, through the aid of the element 26, the rounded portion of the element engages the package, and through the force of the spring 29, causes an ironing-in of the strand structure, namely the filaments of the ends, to create a positive interlocking of the adjacent convolutions forming the package. For example, in the present instance the force of the spring 29 applies seven pounds pressure at the meeting portion of the strand with the package,

. of the adjacent convolutions.

and through the overlapping arrangement shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the filaments of the convolutions will form a complete interlocking of all portions of the material throughout the structure of the package.

Without this interlocking overlapping arrangement of the convolutions of the material, the convolutions would slough off and it wduld be diflicult to form a uniform package beyond cer tain limits. It has also been fonnd 'that by attempting the size of the package beyond a certain diameter, the. package willbegin to bulge and this variation from the uniform contour will increase bythe added convolutions. It should be understood that the winding of the material in the forming of the package by placing tension on the material, is not suflicient to cause an interlocking of the filaments. The material does not have the tensile strength to receive sufiieient tension to cause interlocking of the filaments merely by the application of tension in the strand. The interlocking result is accomplished, however, by

the application of pressure at the point of winding and here any desired pressure may be applied to positively cause interlocking of the filaments Thus with the overlapping of the convolutions of the strands, there is created a thorough interlocking of all convolutions of the strand forming the package made possible by the low twist in the ends of the strand, so that regardless of the portion of the package which may exist during the unwinding of the strand therefrom, there will never exist a sloughing off of any of the convolutions and it is possible to also form packages far greater in size than is possible without these features.

Although specific improvements of the invention have been shown and described, it will be understood that they are but illustrative and that various modifications may be made therein without departing from-the scope and spirit of this invention as defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. The method of Winding material, having a plurality of ends, into a package on a rotatable support, the method comprising distributing the material on the support at a speed relative to the rotary speed of the support to cause certain of the ends of the successive convolutions of the material to overlap, and applying a pressure at the point of winding to cause the overlapped ends to interlock.

2. The method of winding material, having a plurality of ends, into a package on a rotatable support, the method comprising distributing the material on the support at a speed relative to the rotary speed of the support to cause approximately half the ends of, the successive convolutions of the material to overlap, and applying a pressure at the point of winding to cause the overlapped ends to interlock.

3. The method of winding material, formed of continuous filaments, into a package on a rotatable support, the method comprising distributing the material on the support at a speed relative to the rotary speed ofthe support to cause certain of the filaments of the successive convolutions to overlap, and applying pressure to the overlapped filaments to cause interlocking thereof.

4. The method of winding material, formed of continuous filaments, into a package on a rotatable support, the method comprising distributing the material on the support at a speed relative to the rotary speed of the support to cause certain of the filaments of the successive convolutions to overlap, and applying pressure to the overlapped filaments at the point of distribution to cause interlocking thereof.

5. The method of winding material, formed of continuous filaments, into a package on a rotatable support, the method comprising distributing the material on the support at a speed relative to the rotary speed of the support to cause certain of the filaments of the successive convolutions to overlap, and applying a given pressure to the overlapped filaments at the point of distribution to iron-in the filaments and cause interlocking thereof.

6. The method of winding cellulose acetate yarn, having a plurality of filaments, into a pack age on a rotatable support, the method comprising distributing the yarn on the support at a speed relative to the rotary speed of the support to cause approximately half the filaments of the successive convolutions of the yarn to overlap those of their immediately preceding convolutions, and applying a given pressure to the overlapping filaments at the point of distribution to cause interlocking thereof.

CHARLES 0. SMITH. 

